Spoon You, Fork Me

soup

Hubby’s not hungry
A bar menu is read and re-read and re-read and re-read…
We celebrate the invention of the microwave

Diners today we were at the Hyde Park Taven on King William Rd.
I had always loved walking along Kind William Road – Especially on a warm Winters day when the sun is bestowing it’s comforting warmth.

What surprised me today, as hubby and I walked down a stretch of this road toward The Hyde Park Tavern, were the amount of empty shops where restaurants and cafe’s had once been. What is going on with this street?
Some of the buildings were occupied, but the businesses had changed since we were last here.
It was a little bit sad to see and I have to hope that it’s not unreasonable rents that are driving businesses away from this area.

It was about 2.30pm when we entered The Hyde Park Tavern. Hubby only wanted to come in for a drink but I hadn’t had lunch yet and was starving as usual.

Before I get to the food we ordered from the bar menu, I should tell you that hubby hardly ever eats soup. He doesn’t count it as a meal. The bar menu had a “soup of the day” and he decided to go with that because I guess he figured it didn’t really count as eating.
I would have had that too but soup of the day was bacon and lentil and I’m not a fan of bacon in soups so I went for the Shepherds Pie because there wasn’t too much else that appealed to me although in fairness, they did have the usual pub fare on there.

The staff were really friendly and I don’t know if it was the atmosphere, the sunny Winters day, or the laid back music that was playing that had me in a relaxed mood.
I just couldn’t help feeling a bit sad that there weren’t more people in this place while we were there.

The food didn’t take too long to come out.

I love the bread that came out with this soup. It was really warm and quite dense so it actually felt you were eating something. The soup was well flavoured.
It was probably a good thing to eat when you weren’t really hungry.
I was still in shock that hubby had ordered soup.

I wasn’t sure but I was expecting with the shepherds pie but it probably wasn’t this. It was really really really temperature hot. After the initial spoonful, I suspected it had been sitting in the fridge for a couple of days and had been zapped in the microwave.
I thought Shepherds Pie was traditionally with lamb and Cottage Pie was with mince? I’m not sure, but this seemed to be beef mince to me. I would have also expected to see a bit of tomato in there but didn’t. That’s how I make mine. I think it would have stopped it from being so dry.
The mash on top was crusty and hard to break through. What was underneath was ok once it had cooled a bit. It wasn’t overladen with flavour but it wasn’t unpleasant.
A bit of salt helped it go down.

Those green veggies on the side were really nice! They were a little crunchy and dressed with a bit of olive oil. Nice! And the bread was warm and toasty too so that all helped.

All in all I didn’t hate it, it was an ok meal in a comfortable setting. I probably wouldn’t order it again though.

Once we were done hubby was suddenly hungry so after a little walk down King William Rd again, we had a sneaky (almost unspoken) stop at 50 six one and got one of these to share

As you can see we started before I took the photo… It was delicious!!

The Hyde Park Tavern is a decent pub to go along to and I wouldn’t mind trying something from their regular menu on another day.

Have you been to the Hyde Park Tavern?
What did you think?
Let me know in the comments below!!

The Fleurieu Pantry is a delightful little place in the heart of Port Noarlunga. Their facebook page says their food is organic and sourced locally.
I fell in love with this place a few years ago when I wandered in here by accident with my barbershop quartet Esprit.

Today, hubby and I were joined by my daughter, Sarah.
We were greeted at the door by a waiter who was very helpful and welcoming. The first thing I noticed was the colour! Beautifully decorated, using repurposed items and furniture from years ago, it felt like I was walking into mama’s kitchen. There was so many interesting things to look at (including the delicious cake display) that I felt we were shown to our table too soon!

I think hubby was a little intimidated as this is not the place he would usually choose to go to.
The menu itself offered a variety of vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options if you’re into that sort of thing.
The physical menu itself was a little disappointing. Just a few pieces of paper stapled together and ours were old and a little crinkled. I mean it’s not really a huge expense to give your customers something a little more interesting is it?? And considering the wonderful food they produce, I find it a little perplexing that they would present what they have to offer in this way.

Hubby looked forlornly at the menu, not usually one to pick a gluten free or vegan option, and said “I think I prefer the kids menu” . He soon spotted nachos however, but didn’t know what Najobe beef nacho’s were so he asked the waitress. The waitress explained that Najobe Grass fed beef is just that, 100% grass fed beef! With no steroids, hormones or antibiotics. However she also added that they had just run out.
At this point I had to look at the time. 12.10pm. Wednesday, early afternoon. I mean had lunch even started? And her words were they had “just” run out.

Chicken Pizza

Hubby ordered the chicken pizza instead.
I went for something different and ordered the Pumpkin, cauliflour and parmeson soup with sourdough bread. I also ordered the Roast capsicum bruschetta which sounded interesting.
Sarah ordered the Falafel Salad Bowl.

I was super excited! I just loved everything about this place! Even the cobwebs that were spun liberally about the place (no spiders in sight) seemed to add to the experience.

While we waited for our food to be ready, Sarah and I wandered through the antique store that is attached to the restaurant. We were surrounded by beautiful items and it felt like we were somewhere very special!

Falafel Bowl

The food came out and again I didn’t know what to look at first!! It was all so colourful and beautifully presented. My bruschetta was on crusty continental bread just as it should be!

The soup looked delicious and was a gorgeous colour. It was all almost too good to eat! It was deliciously creamy and quite temperature hot which is how I usually prefer it. It was served with sour dough bread and sour cream on the side.

Hubby wasn’t too happy with his pizza. He wasn’t a fan of the crust and didn’t think it had been made on site. I took a bite and it had a wholemeal kind of taste to it which I didn’t mind, but I guess you have to like that taste. At least it was firm, unlike the pizza we ate at Melt

Roasted Capsicum Bruschetta

I ended up giving hubby a piece of my bruschetta and he said it was more filling than his pizza.
Although he’s surely entitled to his opinion, it did look like there was a lot of food on his plate so I’m not sure that I would have agreed. Maybe it was more that the pizza he got was not what he was expecting.

Sarah’s Falafel bowl was beautifully and colourfully presented also. She said she was expecting the falafel to be a bit firmer.
It tasted lovely (better when paired with the salad) however it had the texture of mash and she wasn’t expecting that. It was coated nicely in Sesame seeds and who doesn’t like sesame seeds?

She had a few sauces included with hers and one was an eggplant pickle which was really tasty and gave your taste buds a nice kick!

Pumpkin, Cauliflower and Parmesan Soup

We don’t normally order dessert but today just felt different so Sarah and I went up to the counter and picked out three we liked the look of.

We picked a Berry and lemon cheesecake, a Peanut butter stack and a Protein ball. The waitress did describe all these desserts and how they were made and which were organic, made from raw ingredients or vegan friendly but honestly, I just wanted some sweetness in my mouth so I wasn’t really paying too much attention.

Desserts!

The Berry cheesecake was exquisite in that the cheese part of it was very tart, but the berry top and biscuit base were sweet. A wonderful combination!

The Peanut stack was one of those desserts that you kept eating even if you didn’t really know why. It had a bit of an unusual texture but peanuts are nature’s own goodies aren’t they? It had a chocolate topping and it felt a little like spooning a bit of peanut butter together with a bit of Nutella and shoving that into your mouth. That’s “yum” in anyone’s language! It was very rich but also a little crumbly but that didn’t stop us from digging in and enjoying it.
The protein ball had a perfect texture in that it was dense and moist. I had forgotten that the waitress said it was a mint chocolate protein ball so what a nice surprise when I got that mint taste! The only thing I would have left out of it was the dates. Not a date fan.

I tried to pick my favourite dessert but it was hard. It would really depend on what mood I was in on the day I think. They would all have their time and place as my favourite.

As I went up to pay our bill I noticed they had Ed Sheeran playing and it just seemed to finish off the afternoon nicely! I had to stop myself from gushing to the waitress. I really loved everything about what I ate and my experience at The Fleurieu Pantry.

Have you been to the Fleurieu Pantry? What did you think? Please let me know in the comments below!